Annapolis officials are seeking to transform outer West Street into an arts and entertainment district of music venues, art galleries and theaters that would draw art-based businesses and artists with tax breaks.

The goal is to revitalize the 100 acres from Monticello Avenue to Chinquapin Round Road, now known for its car dealerships, homes, law offices and restaurants, and extend the traditional downtown area for visitors.

Mayor Ellen O. Moyer, a longtime booster of the arts, plans to introduce to the city council next week legislation that would formally begin the process. Similar legislation is to be introduced at the county level.

"We've been an arts city for a long time," Moyer said. "We have an opportunity to really build on our longtime personality. If you look at the whole notion of the synergistic relationship of people living together who have similar interests, it brings a new vitality to the streetscape."

The designation would require approval from the Maryland State Arts Council, an arm of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development that oversees 15 sites in eight counties, including downtown Silver Spring. The program began in 2001.

Arts districts encourage growth through tax credits for developers who create combination living and working spaces for artists; tax credits for artists on the work they sell; and an exemption from the admissions and amusement tax.

"It's an economic development tool for revitalization," said Elizabeth Craven, deputy director of the Arts Council. "The designation has really created a niche market in each one of the districts across the state. It's a wonderful marketing tool."

Many residents of the area where the arts district would be situated are questioning why the city has chosen an area beyond walking distance of downtown. Others worry that the area would turn into a behemoth of late-night drinking establishments, something city officials say is not true.

"I'm a little puzzled as to why we have turned our back on inner West Street," Jim Martin, 59, of Homewood said at a meeting Wednesday night when Moyer and other city officials outlined the plan to 60 residents. "There's so much opportunity there. It's very unlikely that without a significant amount of money, the car dealerships are going to leave. ... It sort of chops off the real vibrancy of the city, where people would like to see it, instead of out here in a residential area."

Brian Cahalan, owner of 49 West Coffeehouse, Winebar and Gallery, said it would be a "huge mistake" to put an arts district on outer West Street, away from the existing small art galleries that he said are struggling to survive on inner West Street.

"We're guys that are local people that put our life on the line, and now I feel like you're abandoning us," said Cahalan, who also owns a building that houses a small art gallery. "It's wrong. ... By jumping out so far, we're not continuing to cultivate what's just starting to bloom."

Diane White, 65, who lives in Homewood, questioned the benefit to residents. "I don't want to go out and buy a picture in the middle of the night. I want to be able to go to the store," she said.

Charlotte Nichols, who owns DESIGN a la Carte, an interior design business on Chinquapin Round Road, said she once lived in a similar district in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

"I think that this would be a huge benefit," she said.

Alderwoman Sheila M. Finlayson, who represents the area where the district would be situated, said she supports it.

Moyer said she has received nothing but "praiseworthy" comments about the proposed district, which would be anchored by Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. She called concerns about nightclubs and an influx of restaurants and bars seeking licenses to close at 2 a.m. "a red herring."

"Maryland Hall has been here for 30 years. Has it turned into some sort of blight? I don't think so," she said. "The aim is not to have nightclubs. The aim is to have an arts and entertainment district, which is an extension of Maryland Hall."

Linnell Bowen, executive director of Maryland Hall, said many of the 70 teachers at her school have expressed interest in moving to the area if the district is established.

"It will bring more artists and certainly brand the city of Annapolis as an arts center. I just think it's wonderful. ... We were fighting about where it should be, not if it should be. So everybody's vying for it. Good old West Street, the time is due now."

nicole.fuller@baltsun.com